ZEENAT MOORAD: Adapt or daigou
The daigou phenomenon has been fuelled by the development of payment technology via mobile phones
I want to be a daigou when I grow up. Pardon, a what? A daigou or selling agent makes luxury purchases on another’s behalf — facilitated largely via Tencent-owned messaging and mobile payment app WeChat. It’s just one of many occupations that, until 20 years ago, didn’t exist. Imagine, if you will, a conversation in the 1990s with your parents about a career path: "I mean ... the end-game is to be a driverless car engineer, but if I have to I’ll put in a year as a cloud computing specialist. And if things don’t pan out, there always vlogging on YouTube or hey, I could be an Uber driver." Chances are they would think you were stoned. Rapid advances and disruption in a range of industries (and retail is right up there) has meant changes in the employment and skills landscape. Consider this cited estimate from a World Economic Forum report: 65% of children entering primary school today will ultimately end up working in completely new job types that don’t yet exist. The daigou phenomeno...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.